Pune: Olympian Manoj Pingle believes that India has a good
chance to win at least half a dozen medals in the London Olympics that begins
after a week from now and expressed confidence that Lakshya’s stars would also
make an important contribution to that tally.
The Pune-based boxer, who represented India at the 1988
Seoul Olympics, said this while interacting with the media on the sidelines of
the launch of Lakshya’s Cheer our Olympians’ campaign ahead of the Olympics on
Friday.
“It is heartening to see that organisations like Lakshya
have come forward to support the players and have contributed in a big way in
ensuring that many more players are qualifying for the Olympics,” said the
Asian Games medallist, who was joined by former hockey international and now
administrator Rekha Bhide and tennis stars like Arjun Kadhe, Rutuja Bhosale and
Ankita Raina.
Five Lakshya supported players – Jwala Gutta, V Diju,
Ashwini Ponnappa (badminton), Jai Bhagwan (boxing) and Rahi Sarnobat (shooting)
– have qualified for the London Games and the campaign is aimed at creating
awareness about their efforts and encouraging city’s sports lovers to come
forward and wish them luck for the Games. Lakshya tennis players’ mentor Rushmi
Chakravarthy has also received a wild card along with Sania Mirza in the women’s
doubles category.
“The Cheer our Olympians’ boards would
be placed at Champions
Sports, PYC Gymkhana, PICT college, Wadeshwar and a few other locations
in Pune where sports enthusiasts should come in large numbers and wish
the
players,” said Lakshya Secretary Swastik Sirsikar.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhide said it was a good sign that
more and more women athletes are leaving a mark for India on the international
stage.
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